Apollo 17:
Blue Marble Photo Timeline

By Eric Hartwell - last updated
February 27, 2006

The "Blue Marble" photo was taken around 5 hours and 6 minutes into the
mission, less than two hours after Apollo 17 started its coast to the moon. The
full magazine ("NN") of color photos taken onboard the command module during
Earth orbit, translunar flight, and Lunar orbit is indexed here: Magazine NN Image Catalog.

This page contains a detailed timeline of the photos taken from the start of
Translunar Injection (TLI) to the end of the first day.

The camera was motorized, so it automatically
advanced to the next frame as soon as each picture was taken. After
photo #64 was taken, the
counter would read #65.

The actual frame
count could be off by one either way in either reading, since the
camera's film magazine had a very small analog frame counter.

The 80mm lens field of view is approximately 38 x 38
degrees, and the 250mm lens field of view is approximately 13 x 13 degrees.

The camera had no viewfinder. The astronauts would
simply point the camera, or sight along any side of the camera body. In free
fall, the orientation of the camera was more a matter of comfort than local
"up" and "down".

I've rotated many of the larger images
so that the top is "up" relative to the Command Module interior.

Photo Summary

All times are MET. I've specified the photo's "Time" wherever my best
estimate, based on the transcripts and mission timeline, should be within one
minute either way. A single value is given for the "Time Range" when a specific
frame is referenced in the transcript.

Translunar Injection

[Based on the transcript, sunrise occurred somewhere between 4:30 and
5:00 into the translunar injection burn, or around 003:17:25]

Cernan: "When we burned out of Earth orbit, we started the
burn in darkness and flew right on through a sunrise during the TLI burn. This
was pretty spectacular. We shut down in daylight and had no other visual
sightings at that point in time."

003:12:37 Cernan: The light is on and we have
ignition.003:15:07 Cernan: Okay, Houston, 2:30 - in the blind - we're still
GO.003:15:38 Cernan: Three minutes, and we are GO.

#60 AS17-148-22667

#61 AS17-148-22668

003:16:06 Cernan: Okay, 3:30 is GO. We have - 17 is GO at 3:30.003:17:06 Cernan: Okay, Bob, 17 is GO at 4:30. You're still
unreadable.
Obermeyer: Roger. How do you read me? You are GO, by the way.
Cernan: Okay, we got you that time. Understand we're GO on the
ground,
and we're still GO here,and we're TLI-ing right through sunrise.
Obermeyer: Understand.

003:17:37 PAO: 5 minutes now, less than 1 minute to go ...

003:18:30 Evans: Cut-off at 52. Did you read the DSKY?

"It was a beautiful burn, right through sunrise."Apollo 17 sunrise during translunar injection burn, frame
#60 (AS17-148-22668) probably taken by Schmitt around 003:17:25 MET

S-IVB Maneuver for Separation

003:34:10 Schmitt: Okay. We - we are
maneuvering, Houston.
Evans: Now we've got a few very
bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver.
Schmitt: There's a whole bunch of
big ones on my window down there - Just bright. It looks like the Fourth
of July out Ron's window.
Evans: Yes. Now you can see some
of them have shape. They're very jagged, angular fragments that are
tumbling.
Obermeyer: Roger. They look like
fluid of some sort?
Evans: Not to me. They look like
pieces of something. They're very bright.
Evans: Bob, for the most part,
these fragments are not - or are tumbling at a very slow rate.
I tried a
couple of pictures of them - different settings. You may get an idea of
what, at least, the patterns look like.
Obermeyer: Roger. I've got you.
We're all ears on these fragments. Do you think you can figure out what
they might be?
Evans: Well, you know I - I
don't know. There are a number of possibilities. If you had some kind of
a - I got the impression maybe they were curved a little bit, as if they
might be - off the side of the S-IVB. And that's a wild guess - ice chunks, possibly.
Or maybe there's paint coming off of it.

003:37:34
Obermeyer: Roger. I noticed on one trip up the elevator last week near
one of the flags. I thought it was on the S-II, but it might have been
on the S-IVB. Looked like it was peeling. Maybe that's what you've got.

003:37:45 Obermeyer: And the S-IVB maneuver is complete.
003:37:46++ Evans:
Okay. And the - with the maneuver complete, the fragment field is
essentially static, except for very slight tumbling within the
fragments.

003:38:01 Evans: Every once in a while, a fragment of
considerably higher velocity than the others goes across my window. But
that' s very rare.
Evans: Hey, that's that field of view I saw out my window. Jack, do you
see it now?
Schmitt: Yes.
Evans: And, Bob. At least, there - there's no apparent relative motion
between fragments.

Evans: I'll take two pictures about a minute apart if I can. And
it'll be Frame 70.

Cernan: And, Bob. This is Geno. My impression is that they are - flat,
flake-like particles. Some may be 6 inches across.

And, although there's
no relative motion between the two, most of them seem to be twinkling.
And I think, for the most part, they're all moving away from us.

Apollo 17 post-maneuver debris, frames
#70 and #71 (AS17-148-22677 and 78), taken by Evans around
003:38 and 003:39 MET

S-IVB Separation and Transposition

#72 AS17-148-22679

#73 AS17-148-22680

#74 AS17-148-22681

#75 AS17-148-22682

[At 003:42:27.6, the CSM was separated from the S-IVB
stage.]

003:42:29 Cernan: SEPARATION, Houston.

Cernan: As soon as we turned around for docking I
could see three of the four SLA panels tumbling slowly in space.

Evans: I never did see a SLA panel.

Cernan: There seemed to be an awful lot of particles with us continually
throughout the flight, both in transearth and translunar coast and in
lunar orbit. These particles were obviously residue from the RCS.

Others
were from dumped residues. They seemed to be hanging around the LM as a
result of pulling in and out of the S-IVB and they were always small
particles. Some, initially, were pieces of Mylar from the S-IVB LM
separation. The others were just like small dump crystals or [RCS]
residue.

003:48:59
Cernan: Okay, Houston, While we're moving in here, I can see a few
chunks of that flaky material, possibly paint, down in the
SLA sort of bouncing around between the S-IVB and the LM.
Cernan: But, so far, LM looks very clean. Can't see anything abnormal
from this view yet.
Schmitt: Isn't it, though? That thing is really stable out
there.

003:50:31 Schmitt: Yes. Can you see it at all, Gene?

003:51:20 Schmitt: Got one little chunk coming out - it just
came out of the SLA, and it's spinning along the long axis,
and it looks very stable.
Schmitt: Every once in a while, a small particle flies off
of it though.
Obermeyer: How big of a chunk are you talking about, Jack?
Schmitt: Oh, I - reference to the thrusters, about the same
diameter as the thruster on the LM. Schmitt: That's how long
it was, and about - oh, a fifth that thick or that wide.
Schmitt: And I don't think - I don't think it's more than a
quarter of an inch or maybe even less thick.
Cernan: That same particle, Bob, came by and as it went spinning, it was
throwing off pieces of itself - radially out.
Obermeyer: Roger. We copy.

003:52:31 CDR: There's a small one come floating by and it
looked like flakes. And I think I caught three of the four
SLA panels going as we were maneuvering. I've got one out
the hatch window now. It's quite a ways out.
Cernan: It's tumbling in all three axes.
Schmitt: And I saw the fourth one out my side, so we saw
them all.
Schmitt: Area around the two spacecraft is cleaned up pretty
well by now. There are just a few fragments moving around.
Evans: Now she's coming in.

003:54:58 Schmitt: Rover looks in good shape, so far.
Obermeyer: Roger, Jack. Can you see down on that quad? Is that what
you're looking at?
Schmitt: Yes, I'm looking right at it. And I got a good view
of the MESA top anyway. It's pretty well covered, but it
looks all right also.
Schmitt: Ail the antennas look good; thruster quads all look
great. I could see all four of them a minute ago.Evans: Okay, about 10 feet there, Gene. Stand by for a ...
on the barber pole.
Cernan: Okay.
Evans: All right; in good shape.

004:39:23 CMP: Okay. We're 6 frames a second. Okay, what
- what did ... RANGE ... Okay, I'll - I'll leave it at 10
feet and about an f - f/8. Okay, ... at set. Because I had
that one to 0180 to 0.

004:42:13 CMP: Okay, Houston, LOGIC 1 is coming on now
and LOGIC 2.

S-IVB Separation and Maneuver for APS Burn

[The docked
spacecraft were ejected from the S-IVB at 004:45:02.3.]

#94 AS17-148-22701

#95 AS17-148-22702

#96 AS17-148-22703

#97 AS17-148-22704

#98 AS17-148-22705

#99 AS17-148-22706

#100 AS17-148-22707

#101 AS17-148-22708

004:47:05 Evans: Okay. POWER's OFF. Hey, Jack. Hand me the Hasselblad. I think we're bowing
the right direction. Yes, the Moon is there. The Earth is - that's the Earth.

004:48~ Evans: The Earth just fills up window 5. Okay, f infinity, about a 250th.

004:49~ Evans: We can give them a GO for yaw, can't we? We can see it now.
Cernan: Yes, we can see it. You've got the GO for the yaw... Looks like she came out of there clean as a whistle.

004:52:04
Schmitt: Hey, there it goes. Look at the aft fire of the thing.
Cernan: Yes, we can see it firing now.
Obermeyer: Roger, 17. Yaw maneuver started.

#102 AS17-148-22709

#103 AS17-148-22710

#104 AS17-148-22711

Schmitt:: The old S-IVB had a flare for the dramatic, but it certainly
did its job for us.

Sequence:
AS17-148-22708
AS17-148-22709
AS17-148-22710
AS17-148-22711

Cernan: Okay. She's - as we're looking at it, she's
pitching up. She was looking right at us - we were looking right at the
dome - and now she's pitching up. The shroud around the IU seems to be
totally intact. It - it looked like a super clean separation. I can't
really see where there's any paint or anything externally chipped off
the - the booster from here. We're beginning to - to pick up the bell.
It's really a shame you don't have this - this whole thing on TV; it's
really quite a sight. ... The Mylar and the gold coating on the inside of the shroud that's
now visible is also intact. It looks like you could use it again if you
could get it back.
Obermeyer: Well, it's got a Job to do when it hits the Moon yet.

#105 AS17-148-22712

#106 AS17-148-22713

#107 AS17-148-22714

#108 AS17-148-22715

#109 AS17-148-22716

Cernan: Okay, Bob. We've - we're almost looking at it broadside now. ... Okay. She's spitting a little; looks like the yaw maneuver may be
complete.

Cernan: We got a - full view of the - entire J2 from here; and no kidding,
Bob, the whole bird, the shroud at the top by the IU, the separation
plane down by the S-II, from here all looks as clean as a whistle, all
the way.
Obermeyer: Roger, Gene. If you're happy, we'd like a GO from you for the
evasive burn.
Cernan: Let's get a picture or two here yet, and we'll give you a GO.

004:56:31
Cernan: Okay. You have a GO.
Schmitt [Cernan?]: And for your reference, at frame105 I started a few
250-millimeter pictures of the S-IVB.
Obermeyer: Roger, Jack[Gene?]. [Note: Tech and PAO transcripts
conflict]

Cernan: And, Bob, the entire sky, as far as I can make it out through
the hatch window, is completely filled with our twinkling flakes.
Schmitt: I saw a couple particles go by the window a while back, and it
looked a little bit like insulation in this - these particular case -
styrofoam insulation, but in flat flakes. ... That was right after we
separated from the S-IVB.

Composite of AS17-148-22712,
AS17-148-22713, and AS17-148-22714

#110 AS17-148-22717

#111 AS17-148-22718

#112 AS17-148-22719

#113 AS17-148-22720

#114 AS17-148-22721

#115 AS17-148-22722

004:59:05
Cernan: Bob, I know - I know we're not the first to discover this- but we'd
like to confirm, from the crew of America, that the world is round.

Obermeyer: Roger. That's a good data point. Have you gotten a good look at any
of that weather down there on the Antarctic?
Cernan: Well, Ron's at window number 1 - maybe he can tell you a
little about it.

Evans: You know, it's real funny there in Antarctica the - You can see the
snow, but there isn't any weather at all in it. All of the weather's
around it in the water.
Schmitt: That's where the moisture is. I don't know what to take a
picture of.

Evans: Here, Jack, can you see him good?
[Evans?]: Check the settings there. I took an f/22 stop.

The 79.9-second separation maneuver was performed at 005:03:01.1

005:03:19 Cernan: There it goes, Bob.
Schmitt: There it goes; finally.

005:05:00 Obermeyer: 17, Houston. The evasive burn is complete.
Schmitt: It's going to be gone, I think, before we see it.

#118 AS17-148-22725

#119 AS17-148-22726

#120 AS17-148-22727

#121 AS17-148-22728

Evans: Houston, magazine November November is on about 123
right now. [Note: actually 122]
005:08:14 Obermeyer: Okay, Ron. Magazine November November is on 123.

005:18:20 Cernan: Bob, Antarctica is what I would call effectively just a solid white
cap down on the - South Pole. There's definite contact between the
continent and the water. But, as Ron said, most of the clouds seem to be
very artistic, very picturesque - some in clockwise rotating fashion but
appear to be very thin where you can, for the most part, kind of see
through those clouds to the blue water below. ... The continent - the continent itself is - is the same color as the
clouds; but, of course, more dense - and striking difference than any of
the other white background around because you can definitely see that
contact with the water and with the clouds over the water.

005:20:36 Evans: Bob, and could you give us our distance from
the Earth?
Obermeyer: 18,100, FIDO says.
Cernan: Okay. And I suppose we're seeing as 100 percent full Earth as we'll
ever see; certainly as I've ever seen. It appears to be - it may be a
little bit - a little bit of a terminator way out to the - well, to the
east - out beyond Australia and beyond India. But beyond that it's about
99 percent pure.

Cernan: Bob, it's these kind of views - these kind of views that stick with
you forever.

005:22:39 Cernan: We've got a - I guess probably the continent of Africa dominates
the world right now. It's covering the - oh, the upper third - upper and
western third of the - of the world. We can see the Sinai; we can see up
into the Mediterranean; we can see across the Mediterranean, although we
can't quite make out the countries up there; we can see across into
India. I catch a glimpse of Australia out in the far horizon. Got
Zanzibar on the southern tip of Africa, the Cape down there just almost
directly below us. And, I don't know exactly how big Antarctica is, but
I guess we can certainly see more than 50 percent of it. And - the rest
of it is all ocean. The Indian Ocean out into the Pacific Ocean and back
into the Atlantic Ocean. And for the most part relatively clear of
clouds except in the Antarctica region, and up towards Europe which is -
which is on the horizon, across the Mediterranean, it looks like there
might be some clouds back up in that way. I probably - probably - well,
not probably - I can make out the entire coast of Africa from
Mediterranean around to the west, coming back to the south back where it
takes its big dip to the east, back around the Cape, back around up
through the Suez Canal, almost perfectly. ... And there's one batch of clouds in northern Africa, just a small
batch, it looks like it may be up near the - well, no, it's not near the
mouth of the Nile; it's quite a bit west of that, as a matter of fact, I
can see the mouth of the Nile; I can see it running straight down
towards us as it parallels the Suez and then sort of fades out into the
central darker brown or darker green portions of Africa.

Obermeyer: Roger, Gene. Sure be nice to have that on TV, wouldn't it?
Cernan:: Boy, I'd love to give it to you; any way I could.

Cernan: You know - and there's no strings holding it up either. It's out
there all by itself.

005:26:01 Obermeyer: Gene, looking at our plot board, you're directly over the southern
tip of Africa or just slightly out in the Indian Ocean there, according
to our plot board, which isn't exactly accurate all the time. But
shortly you're going to start going backwards on the Earth here and head
back across the Atlantic. That ought to be some sort of a first. You
cross the Atlantic twice, going from west to east, and then, now you're
going to cross it going from east to west here shortly. All in a very
short span of time.
005:27:40 Cernan: Yes. I guess that does sound like a first.

Earth Observation on Translunar Coast

#122 AS17-148-22729

#123 AS17-148-22730

#124 AS17-148-22731

005:29:53 +
Schmitt: Bob, I'm looking over Gene's shoulder here at the Earth, and it
must be an awful clear day for the so-called convergence zone across
Africa.

Gene, I think, indicated, as it looked to us as we crossed it
earlier, most of Africa is clear. Only some - probably are broken and
scattered clouds - cumulus in the east central portion that are running
along the line of - north/south lines.

#125 AS17-148-22732

#126 AS17-148-22733

005:49:03 Schmitt: Bob, one of the things that we miss in our training is a
good geography lesson, and particularly on Antarctica. I got the monocular out,
and apparently the dark band that Gene - Ron mentioned as interface between the
continental water is that between the pack ice and the water. And you can, by
very subtle changes in the apparent smoothness of the ground, probably make out
where the actual continent begins and the pack ice ends. There are a few exposed
ranges. I guess it's midsummer down there now, and you can make out the
snow-free areas scattered at least in the northern portion of the continent.

Obermeyer: Roger. Did you get any pictures of that, Jack?
Schmitt: Oh, yes. We got some pictures
earlier. I'm going to get another one here in a minute.I'll tell you, if there ever was a fragile-appearing piece of blue in space,
it's the Earth right now.

#127 AS17-148-22734

#128 AS17-148-22735

#129 AS17-148-22736

007:57:21 Schmitt: MARK. Bob, mag November November is 130 now. And I
just took another set of Earth pictures.
Obermeyer: Okay. Copy that. November November at 130.

008:50:09 CC: Okay. And do you have a final change or
update on the film status - beyond that 130 that Jack gave
us ?
008:58:03 CDR: Okay. That number on that mag is still 130,
Bob. And Alfa Alfa, that 16-millimeter mag, is about 25
percent left.

Earth: Africa and Madagascar from the Apollo 17 spacecraft. Much of the
ocean area is obscured by clouds. Sun Azimuth: 150 (Clockwise angle in
degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point); Spacecraft
Altitude: 205 nautical miles (380 km); Sun Elevation Angle: 72 (Angle in
degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point)
(Info: JSC
Astronaut Photography of Earth)

AS17-148-22718

111

4:56 - 5:03

250mm

Earth: Northeast Africa and Saudi Arabia. This oblique view of Earth
looking north shows the Gulf of Suez, Dead Sea, Gulf of Aden, Persian
Gulf and Gulf of Oman around Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia
in Africa. Iran, Iraq and Jordan
are not so clearly visible because of cloud cover and their particular
location in this picture. India is dimly visible at right of frame. The
Red Sea is seen entirely in this one frame. The Mediterranean is visible at upper left. The south
coast of Saudi Arabia is roughly 2000 km long.
Central Latitude/Longitude (deg): +15.,315. (Info:
NSSDC 72-096A-05C
AS17-148-22718 and JSC
Astronaut Photography of Earth)

Earth: Full Earth. A remarkably cloud-free Africa is at upper left, stretching
down to the center of the image. Saudi Arabia is visible at the top of the disk
and Antarctica and the south pole are at the bottom. Asia is on the horizon is
at upper right. The Earth is 12,740 km in diameter.
Central Latitude/Longitude (deg): -30.,310. (Info:
NSSDC 72-096A-05C
AS17-148-22725)

This translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area
to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo
trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note
the heavy cloud cover in the southern hemisphere. Almost the entire
coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be
seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the
coast of Africa is the Malagasy Republic. The Asian mainland is on the
horizon toward the northeast. (JSC PAO File Name: 10075945.jpg)

AS17-148-22726

119

5:06

5:03 - 5:08

80mm

Earth "Blue Marble"

AS17-148-22727

120

5:06

5:03 - 5:08

80mm

Earth "Blue Marble": Africa, Arabia, Antarctica

Full Earth. A remarkably cloud-free
Africa is at upper left, stretching down to the center of the image.
Saudi Arabia is visible at the top of the disk and Antarctica and the
south pole are at the bottom. Asia is on the horizon is at upper right.
The Earth is 12,740 km in diameter.
Central Latitude/Longitude (deg): -30.,310. (Info:
NSSDC 72-096A-05C
AS17-148-22727)